Listeria adhesion protein orchestrates caveolae-mediated apical junctional remodeling of epithelial barrier for Listeria monocytogenes translocation.

The cellular junctional architecture remodeling by Listeria adhesion protein-heat shock protein 60 (LAP-Hsp60) interaction for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) passage through the epithelial barrier is incompletely understood. Here, using the gerbil model, permissive to internalin (Inl) A/B-mediated pathways like in humans, we demonstrate that Lm crosses the intestinal villi at 48 h post-infection. In contrast, the single isogenic (lap- or ΔinlA) or double (lap-ΔinlA) mutant strains show significant defects. LAP promotes Lm translocation via endocytosis of cell-cell junctional complex in enterocytes that do not display luminal E-cadherin. In comparison, InlA facilitates Lm translocation at cells displaying apical E-cadherin during cell extrusion and mucus expulsion from goblet cells. LAP hijacks caveolar endocytosis to traffic integral junctional proteins to the early and recycling endosomes. Pharmacological inhibition in a cell line and genetic knockout of caveolin-1 in mice prevents LAP-induced intestinal permeability, junctional endocytosis, and Lm translocation. Furthermore, LAP-Hsp60-dependent tight junction remodeling is also necessary for InlA access to E-cadherin for Lm intestinal barrier crossing in InlA-permissive hosts. IMPORTANCE: Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a foodborne pathogen with high mortality (20%-30%) and hospitalization rates (94%), particularly affecting vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, fetuses, newborns, seniors, and immunocompromised individuals. Invasive listeriosis involves Lm's internalin (InlA) protein binding to E-cadherin to breach the intestinal barrier. However, non-functional InlA variants have been identified in Lm isolates, suggesting InlA-independent pathways for translocation. Our study reveals that Listeria adhesion protein (LAP) and InlA cooperatively assist Lm entry into the gut lamina propria in a gerbil model, mimicking human listeriosis in early infection stages. LAP triggers caveolin-1-mediated endocytosis of critical junctional proteins, transporting them to early and recycling endosomes, facilitating Lm passage through enterocytes. Furthermore, LAP-Hsp60-mediated junctional protein endocytosis precedes InlA's interaction with basolateral E-cadherin, emphasizing LAP and InlA's cooperation in enhancing Lm intestinal translocation. This understanding is vital in combating the severe consequences of Lm infection, including sepsis, meningitis, encephalitis, and brain abscess.

Combined Effects of Clarifying Agents Improve Physicochemical, Microbial and Sensorial Qualities of Fresh Indian Gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica L.) Juice during Refrigerated Storage.

Using clarifying agents is essential in the production of fruit juice. This study utilized gelatin and bentonite as clarifying agents to improve the quality and shelf-life of Indian gooseberry juice (IGBJ). Different treatments were prepared using varying levels of gelatin and bentonite alone or in combination (1.5-2 mg/mL and 1-2 mg/mL, respectively). The untreated IGBJ was used as a control. The results showed the combined treatment of 1.5 mg/mL gelatin and 1 mg/mL bentonite significantly (p ≤ 0.05) improved the transmittance, △E value, total acidity, vitamin C, and antioxidant activity of the IGBJ sample. During storage for 49 days at 4 °C, the quality changes in the IGBJ were minimal with the use of 1.5 mg/mL gelatin and 1 mg/mL bentonite compared to the control (p > 0.05). The treated samples showed no signs of spoilage bacteria, yeast, or mold during cold storage. The combined use of gelatin and bentonite (1.5 mg/mL gelatin and 1 mg/mL bentonite) was found to effectively preserve the sensory quality, bioactivity, and color properties of IGBJ, thereby extending its shelf-life. Thus, gelatin and bentonite can be used as preferred filtering aids for quality and shelf-life extension in the food industry, as they have synergistic effects.

Multi-accelerant approach for rapid shelf-life determination of beverages in polymeric packaging.

An effective analysis method with multiple accelerant factors is needed for shelf-life determination and prediction for food products with reduced analysis time. Raising the storage temperature is the most common approach utilized in the conventional accelerated shelf-life test (ASLT) to reduce the shelf-life testing time of food. Oxygen pressure as an accelerant for the shelf-life determination of food products has not been given much attention even though it has shown a negative impact on food shelf-life. Combining oxygen pressure and temperature as accelerants has the potential to further reduce the overall analysis time compared to the ASLT. This study focuses on the effects of applying oxygen pressure and temperature as multi-accelerants on the shelf-life of a shelf-stable product by investigating the extent of vitamins degradation and modeling the reaction using a mechanistic approach. A shelf-stable model food fortified with vitamins A, B1, C and D3 was developed to investigate the effect of multiple accelerants on the quality indicators of shelf-stable foods in a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) container. PET bottles filled with model food were placed in a high-pressure (138 kPa) 100% oxygen environment at 40 °C. This novel process is named as the ultra-accelerated shelf-life test (UASLT). Samples were also subjected to ASLT conditions at 40 °C and control condition at 22.5 °C, both at ambient pressure for comparison. UASLT treatment induced a rapid degradation of 27.1 ± 1.9%, 35.8 ± 1.0%, and 35.4 ± 0.7% in vitamins A, C and D3, respectively, in just 50 days. Slower degradation was observed with samples kept under the ASLT conditions for 105 days with a degradation of 24.0 ± 2.0%, 32.0 ± 3.1% and 25.1 ± 1.5% for vitamin A, C and D3, respectively. The control samples that were studied for 210 days showed 14.9 ± 5.0%, 13.8 ± 2.2% and 10.6 ± 0.8% degradation in vitamins A, C and D3, respectively. The increase in the ΔE values due to browning in samples kept at the UASLT, ASLT and control conditions were 11.67 ± 0.09, 7.49 ± 0.19 and 2.51 ± 0.11, respectively. The degradation of vitamin B1 was similar across the treatments. The addition of oxygen pressure significantly increased the degradation reaction rates of the vitamins and color due to the rapid influx of oxygen. A mechanistic model that coupled oxygen diffusion and simultaneous vitamin degradation provided a good fit to the experimental data for the UASLT treatment with a rate constant of 0.686, 0.631 and 0.422 M-1day-1 for vitamins C, D3 and A, respectively. Elevated external oxygen pressure can be used as an accelerant along with moderate temperatures for rapid shelf-life testing of products in polymeric packaging with two-fold reduction in the overall analysis time as compared to ASLT.

Non-destructive processing of silver containing glass ceramic antibacterial coating on polymeric surgical mesh surfaces.

Surgical meshes composed of bioinert polymers such as polypropylene are widely used in millions of hernia repair procedures to prevent the recurrence of organ protrusion from the damaged abdominal wall. However, post-operative mesh infection remains a significant complication, elevating hernia recurrence risks from 3.6% to 10%, depending on the procedure type. While attempts have been made to mitigate these infection-related complications by using antibiotic coatings, the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains threatens their effectiveness. Bioactive glass-ceramics featuring noble metals, notably silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), have recently gained traction for their wide antibacterial properties and biocompatibility. Yet, conventional methods of synthesizing and coating of such materials often require high temperatures, thus making them impractical to be implemented on temperature-sensitive polymeric substrates. To circumvent this challenge, a unique approach has been explored to deposit these functional compounds onto temperature-sensitive polypropylene mesh (PP-M) surfaces. This approach is based on the recent advancements in cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) assisted deposition of SiO2 thin films and laser surface treatment (LST), enabling the selective heating and formation of functional glass-ceramic compounds under atmospheric conditions. A systematic study was conducted to identify optimal LST conditions that resulted in the effective formation of a bioactive glass-ceramic structure without significantly altering the chemical and mechanical properties of the underlying PP-M (less than 1% change compared to the original properties). The developed coating with optimized processing conditions demonstrated high biocompatibility and persistent antibacterial properties (>7 days) against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The developed process is expected to provide a new stepping stone towards depositing a wide range of functional bioceramic coatings onto different implant surfaces, thereby decreasing their risk of infection and associated complications.

Optimal Design of Complementary Experiments for Parameter Estimation at Elevated Temperature of Food Processing.

Simultaneous estimation of thermal properties can be challenging, especially when the parameters are temperature-dependent. Previous research has shown that by using a complementary experiment, temperature-dependent thermal conductivity can be estimated using a single experiment. The objective of this study was to optimize the complementary experiments that can facilitate the simultaneous estimation of temperature-dependent thermal conductivity and volumetric heat capacity. A theoretical study was conducted with two experiments in a single trial with the sample being kept in a cylindrical sample holder, which had a thin film heater in the center. The first part of the experiment was conducted by keeping the external surface temperature at 50 °C for 300 s and allowing the center temperature to equilibrate with the boundary temperature. Then, the second part of the experiment followed, where the thin film heater was supplied with electrical power to increase the center temperate to 140 °C. Several heating profiles were studied to maximize the information obtained from the complementary experiments, and the best one was the power profile with a sinusoidal function. All four parameters of sweet potato puree temperature-dependent thermal conductivity (0.509 to 0.629 W/mK at 25 °C and 140 °C, respectively) and volumetric heat capacity (3.617 × 106 to 4.180 × 106 J/m3K at 25 °C and 140 °C, respectively) were estimated with low standard errors.

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Bottle-to-Bottle Recycling for the Beverage Industry: A Review.

Disposal of plastic waste has become a widely discussed issue, due to the potential environmental impact of improper waste disposal. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging accounted for 44.7% of single-serve beverage packaging in the US in 2021, and 12% of global solid waste. A strategic solution is needed to manage plastic packaging solid waste. Major beverage manufacturers have pledged to reduce their environmental footprint by taking steps towards a sustainable future. The PET bottle has several properties that make it an environmentally friendly choice. The PET bottle has good barrier properties as its single-layer, mono-material composition allows it to be more easily recycled. Compared to glass, the PET bottle is lightweight and has a lower carbon footprint in production and transportation. With modern advancements to decontamination processes in the recycling of post-consumer recycled PET (rPET or PCR), it has become a safe material for reuse as beverage packaging. It has been 30 years since the FDA first began certifying PCR PET production processes as compliant for production of food contact PCR PET, for application within the United States. This article provides an overview of PET bottle-to-bottle recycling and guidance for beverage manufacturers looking to advance goals for sustainability.

Dynamic Thermal Properties Estimation Using Sensitivity Coefficients for Rapid Heating Process.

Thermal conductivity determination of food at temperatures > 100 °C still remains a challenge. The objective of this study was to determine the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of food using rapid heating (TPCell). The experiments were designed based on scaled sensitivity coefficient (SSC), and the estimated thermal conductivity of potato puree was compared between the constant temperature heating at 121.10 °C (R12B10T1) and the rapid heating (R22B10T1). Temperature-dependent thermal conductivity models along with a constant conductivity were used for estimation. R22B10T1 experiment using the k model provided reliable measurements as compared to R12B10T1 with thermal conductivity values from 0.463 ± 0.011 W m-1 K-1 to 0.450 ± 0.016 W m-1 K-1 for 25-140 °C and root mean squares error (RMSE) of 1.441. In the R12B10T1 experiment, the analysis showed the correlation of residuals, which made the estimation less reliable. The thermal conductivity values were in the range of 0.444 ± 0.012 W m-1 K-1 to 0.510 ± 0.034 W m-1 K-1 for 20-120 °C estimated using the k model. Temperature-dependent models (linear and k models) provided a better estimate than the single parameter thermal conductivity determination with low RMSE for both types of experiments. SSC can provide insight in designing dynamic experiments for the determination of thermal conductivity coefficient.

Real-Time Detection of Fouling-Layer with a Non-Intrusive Continuous Sensor (NICS) during Thermal Processing in Food Manufacturing.

The fouling of indirect shell and coil heat exchanger by heavy whipping cream (HWC) and non-fat dry milk (NFDM) was studied at aseptic Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) processing conditions (140 °C) using a novel non-intrusive sensor. The sensor emitted a heat pulse intermittently throughout the duration of the process causing an incremental increase in temperature at the tube external surface. The temperature response of the sensor varied due to the radial growth of the fouling layer formed by certain components of the products. Each heating pulse and the temperature response was studied to estimate the thermal conductivity of the fouling layer using inverse problems and parameter estimation. The changes in thermal conductivity were used as an indication of the fouling layer development during food processing at UHT temperatures. The estimated parameters from experimental results showed a decreasing trend in the thermal conductivity of HWC and NFDM from 0.35 to 0.10 and 0.63 to 0.37, respectively. An image analysis tool was developed and used to measure the fouling layer thickness at the end of each trial. The measured thickness was found to be 0.58 ± 0.15 for HWC and 0.56 ± 0.07 mm for NFDM. The fouling layer resistance for HWC and NFDM was 5.95 × 10-3 ± 1.53 × 10-3 and 1.53 × 10-3 ± 2.0 × 10-4 (m2K)/W, respectively.

Rapid Inverse Method to Measure Thermal Diffusivity of Low-Moisture Foods.

Thermal diffusivity is an important transport property needed in modeling and computations of transient heat transfer in basic food processing operations. In addition, the prediction of nutritional and microbial changes occurring in food during thermal processing requires knowledge of thermal diffusivity of foods. The objectives of this study were to develop a new nonisothermal and nonlinear determination method of thermal diffusivity and to measure the thermal diffusivity of low-moisture foods using that new method. Thermal diffusivities of 5 kinds of low-moisture foods (almond meal, corn meal, wheat flour, chocolate fudge, and peanut butter) were estimated using an inverse technique. Samples were canned and heated at the surface in a water bath at about 70 °C. The 1-dimensional transient heat conduction problem for radial coordinates was solved with a finite-difference model. The thermal diffusivity of each of the 5 samples was determined by the ordinary least squares and sequential estimation methods, respectively. Predicted and observed temperature matched well, with maximum residuals of 0.9 °C. The thermal diffusivity values of the samples ranged from 9.8 × 10-8 to 1.3 × 10-7 m2 /s. The advantages of this method are that the device and the estimation method are simple, inexpensive, rapid, and can handle large spatial temperature gradients, such as those experienced during heating of low-moisture foods. The results obtained in this study will be useful in the design of equipment and in calculations for the thermal processing of low-moisture foods.

A case report of reactive solitary eccrine syringofibroadenoma.

Eccrine syringofibroadenoma is a very rare benign tumour of acrosyringium of eccrine sweat duct. Based on the evidences of known etiological factors, two forms have been proposed; reactive and nonreactive. Reactive forms are rarer, and on even rarer occasions, trauma complicated by secondary nonspecific infections may lead to the development of reactive eccrine syringofibroadenoma, as in our case. Here, we are documenting a case of reactive solitary eccrine syringofibroadenoma in a 65-year-old male presenting with coalescing, firm, pinkish, verrucous nodules and painful deep ulceration on the right sole preceded by trauma and secondary infection. Histopathologic revelation of distinctive microscopic findings confirmed the diagnosis in our case.

Comparative Study of Efficacy and Safety of Topical Squaric Acid Dibutylester and Diphenylcyclopropenone for the Treatment of Alopecia Areata.

BACKGROUND: Topical squaric acid dibutylester and diphenylcyclopropenone are still the most effective therapy for alopecia areata among widely available treatment options. Hence, it is important to know which one is more effective and safer between the two. AIMS: The aim of this study was to compare topical squaric acid dibutylester and diphenylcyclopropenone for the treatment of alopecia areata in terms of their efficacy and side effects. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In the time period of January-March 2015, a total of 40 patients were selected for this study from the outpatient department of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi. After dropout of 16 patients, the remaining 24 patients were randomly divided into two groups; that is, group A for squaric acid dibutylester and group B for diphenylcyclopropenone. Each group received treatment for 6 months between March-November 2015. Their efficacy and side effects were compared. STATISTICAL TEST: Unpaired student t-test was performed. P < 0.05 was considered to be significant and 95% confidence interval was also used to evaluate the efficacy. RESULTS: The mean values of percentage change in baseline severity of alopecia tool score for squaric acid dibutylester and diphenylcyclopropenone were 52.25 and 34.45, respectively. At 6 months, 95% confidence interval was 43.5-61% for group A and 25-44% for group B. In 58.33% of group A patients, A3 (50-74%) grade of improvement was observed, whereas in group B patients, it was 33.33%. A4 grade of improvement (75-99%) was also seen in 1 patient of group A. Minor side effects were seen in 2 patients of group A and 10 patients of group B. None of the group A patients showed major side effects, however, 2 patients suffered major side effects in group B. CONCLUSIONS: Between squaric acid dibutylester and diphenylcyclopropenone, squaric acid dibutylester is more efficacious. Further, frequencies of major and minor side effects are also lower than diphenylcyclopropenone.

Parameter estimation in food science.

Modeling includes two distinct parts, the forward problem and the inverse problem. The forward problem-computing y(t) given known parameters-has received much attention, especially with the explosion of commercial simulation software. What is rarely made clear is that the forward results can be no better than the accuracy of the parameters. Therefore, the inverse problem-estimation of parameters given measured y(t)-is at least as important as the forward problem. However, in the food science literature there has been little attention paid to the accuracy of parameters. The purpose of this article is to summarize the state of the art of parameter estimation in food science, to review some of the common food science models used for parameter estimation (for microbial inactivation and growth, thermal properties, and kinetics), and to suggest a generic method to standardize parameter estimation, thereby making research results more useful. Scaled sensitivity coefficients are introduced and shown to be important in parameter identifiability. Sequential estimation and optimal experimental design are also reviewed as powerful parameter estimation methods that are beginning to be used in the food science literature.